Roy Hodgson’s worst fears over the quality of the playing surface at Wembley stadium appear to have been realised after a member of Slovenia’s backroom staff condemned the turf as “completely ruined”, a factor the visitors hope will count in their favour.

Saturday’s Euro 2016 quaifier comes just six days after Wembley hosted an NFL game between Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas Cowboys, an event which, combined with poor weather over the past few days, has left the turf badly damaged in some areas. The stadium’s managing director, Roger Maslin, had admitted earlier this week that the pitch would “not be of the very highest standard” for the qualifier, with Hodgson having been critical of the decision to play American football in the arena so soon before the Slovenia tie. His side have conducted their preparations at St George’s Park, but the visitors trained at Wembley evening with one member of their backroom staff offering a frank assessment of the quality of the surface. “Down the wings it is fine,” he said, “but there is a 10-metre square patch right in the middle where the pitch is completely ruined. There is no grass there at all.” Water appeared still to be pooling in some areas after heavy rainfall earlier in the day.

Hodgson had dispatched his assistant, Gary Neville, to inspect conditions and the manager attempted to paint a positive picture of the situation. “It wasn’t as worrying as some of the other reports which have come my way,” he said. “The bottom line is the pitch is the pitch. We’ve prepared to play the game tomorrow. I’ll leave any further discussions until after the game. I will wait and see, but I was encouraged by Gary – who is instinctively a critical person – not coming back damning its condition totally. We’ve been all week preparing for the worst, but let’s see.”

Yet the Slovenia coach, Srecko Katanec, is hopeful his side – ranked 36 in the world and second in Group E behind their hosts – could exploit the situation. “The pitch will be in the same condition for both teams,” he said. “Even if it is not in perfect condition the better team will still have an advantage. If there is rain or it is muddy it is, up to a point, an advantage for the team that is defending because the ball is harder to control. I don’t care, we must play here and we can’t change.”

Hodgson will select Kieran Gibbs at left-back for the fixture having fallen foul of the new Uefa regulations which demand national federations submit their match-day squad the day before a qualifying game, with the governing body rejecting a late request to be able to replace the injured Leighton Baines in the England party.

The Everton full-back hurt his hamstring early in the national team’s final training session at St George’s Park and has returned to Merseyside for treatment, effectively leaving Hodgson with a squad of 22 for the Slovenia fixture.

England had already opted to omit Luke Shaw, the third left-back in their original 26-man party, from the trimmed 23-player squad registered with Uefa by the 11am cut-off – a new regulation brought in ahead of this qualification campaign – and a subsequent attempt to have him reinstated in the wake of Baines’s withdrawal was rejected.

“I knew about the rule and, therefore, I gave my squad in before 11am to be sent to Uefa,” explained Hodgson, whose morning training session had been put back by half an hour and therefore started on the deadline. “I was rather hoping that, because it was only 20 minutes after the event and we went straight on to [Uefa], they’d show sympathy for our request.

“But they said the rule is clear. After 11am, when you’ve put 23 names in, you can’t change it. I was going to play Leighton in this game and then send him home, so it is a blow. With Leighton going down, it would have been good for us to have Luke on the bench.”

Baines is the third withdrawal from the current squad, following Michael Carrick (groin) and Andros Townsend (ankle) in returning to his club for treatment. Gibbs, who started against San Marino last month, will start at Wembley in the older man’s stead with Shaw – who has played a limited part in training this week given his own concerns over a groin injury – to earn his fourth cap in Tuesday’s friendly against Scotland at Parkhead.

Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne will make his debut at right-back after an impressive start to the season at St Mary’s, with Raheem Sterling, a substitute in Estonia last month, fit and fresh enough to start the game. “Raheem has been excellent all week,” added Hodgson.